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Media and communication research is one of the key disciplines of the modern media and information society. On the one hand, with the increasing dynamism and complexity of the political and social environment, the opportunity for individual primary experience is diminishing, as a result of which the importance of mediated experience is increasing. On the other hand, the growing diversity of media and new communication technologies are leading to new ways of dealing with content channelled through the media. In consequence, not only the conditions of media production, but also the processes of public opinion formation as one of the fundamental pillars of a democratic community are changing. The Institute for Comparative Media and Communication Studies (CMC) of the Austrian Academy of Sciences and the Alpen-Adria-University investigates the connection between media change and the changing forms of political communication and public opinion formation, and the accompanying consequences for action and responsibility on the macro-, meso- and micro-level.